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Stephen Strasburg–Coming soon to a Major League Park near you

The wait is nearly over for Stephen Strasburg. June 8 is now the official date for his highly anticipated Major League debut–assuming everything goes as planned, no postponements, injuries, etc. The Nationals made the announcement last night and single game tickets for the game quickly sold out. Right now, the only way to get tickets is by purchasing the Nats’New Era Flex Plan.

It’s Strasburg-mania. Plain and simple. He is a baseball player with a rock star following.

“Stephen Strasburg is a rare breed,” Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs Manager Trent Jewett said. “Whatever he brings that intrigues people, I certainly understand it. It’s a great story. I think the people are attracted to power, whether it’s power arms or power swings. And the fact that he’s a down-to-earth, humble person, that doesn’t hurt.”

Everyone wants a piece of Strasburg history. He has that rare ability as a baseball player to singlehandedly sell out ballparks. He is the biggest thing in baseball since, well, people are still trying to quantify his impact.

“All of us are asking for comparables, and we can’t think of any,” Nats President Stan Kasten said.

The homepage at stubhub has a direct link to “See Stephen Strasburg.” The cheapest ticket right now is $63 for section 418, just 350 percent more than face value. Just for a quick comparison, tickets for this Friday’s game are as cheap as $6 for the same section.

His start on June 8 will conclude an eventful calendar year: he was drafted on June 9, signed less than two minutes before the midnight signing deadline in August, pitched in the Arizona Fall League, got married in January, attended his first Major League Spring Training, made a rapid accent through the Minor League system and is on the cusp of pitching in his first Major League game.

Year one is almost in the books and, hopefully, it is only the first chapter.

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